HOLLYWOOD TO DECIDE ON SENIORS COMPLEX

A three-year battle over a proposed apartment complex for senior citizens is to be decided Wednesday by city commissioners.

Homeowners, led by Herbert Freehling and Tom Owens, said they are opposed to the complex, planned for the Lakes neighborhood behind Temple Sinai, 1201 Johnson St.

"The intent is good -- to help the elderly and the aged," said Freehling, president of the Central Council Improvement Association of Hollywood.

"But to put it in a family-zoned area for pure profit is something that's repugnant to people. They didn't buy their homes to be surrounded by businesses."

However, Commissioner Suzanne Gunzburger, the president of Temple Sinai and a representative of the developer planning the apartment complex, disagreed.

They said such apartment complexes, known as "life-care facilities," are needed in Broward County, where about one of every three residents is 60 or older.

Three similar complexes are located in Coral Springs, Pompano Beach and Plantation.

"We have middle income and upper income people who don't want to live with their children when they get older," said Marcy Kameron, president of Temple Sinai. Kameron said life-care complexes allow senior citizens to remain independent.

Douglas Kaplan, an attorney representing the complex's developer, said, "Older people who come down here need some kind of knowledge that they will be taken care of, but not institutionalized. This should not in any way intimidate people."

Since early 1982, Kaplan has been seeking permission to build up to a 200- unit life-care center on 3.6 acres of vacant land behind Temple Sinai. The land, used informally as a baseball diamond, is surrounded by single-family homes, a canal, a two-story condominium project and the temple.

If built, senior citizens purchasing apartments would receive one meal a day and transportation around the city.

A nurse would be available 24 hours a day. Residents needing advanced health care would be placed in a nursing home within the apartment complex.

If the residents died, the apartment would belong to the developer, who could resell it. However, Kaplan said the developer, Lee Kallen of Fort Lauderdale, is considering renting the units.

Similar units in Broward sell for between $50,000 and $80,000, according to Joyce Raichelson, coordinator for the Long Term Care Ombudsman Council.

Hollywood commissioners initially approved of Kaplan's plans, but county commissioners objected because the units are designed to make a profit.

The County Commission has dropped its objections. Owens and other homeowners said they distributed about 3,000 fliers Monday objecting to the life-care complex. They said they will ask city commissioners to put a proposed ordinance governing life-care homes on the March 1986 ballot.